Lunar Solar Power (LSP) System: Practical Means to Power Sustainable Prosperity

Solar Energy / Economics

Date posted: 01/17/10

The world now consumes ~ 14 terawatts of commercial thermal power (14 TWt). The surface of our Moon independably intercepts 13,000 TWs of solar power. This Lunar Solar Power is converted on the Moon into to electric power and then to beams of ~2.5 GHz microwaves to which Earth's atmosphere is transparent. Beam receivers on Earth convert the low-intensity microwaves (< 20% of sunlight) to commercial electric power. A given receiver outputs ~200 W/m2 of load following electric power to its regional electric grid. LSP facilities are made from the local lunar materials by small manufacturing units transported from Earth to the Moon (see http://www.tipmagazine.com/tip/INPHFA/vol-8/iss-2/p12.pdf article and subsequent letters to the editor). The LSP System can quickly grow to provide < 2 kWe/person to 10 billion people, < 20 TWe, and enable GWP < 800 T$/y. For scale, at 33% efficiency for oil-to-electricity ~ 1,000 million barrels of oil per day must be burned.